J.D.C. Urges Support for World Refugee Year; Adopts Resolution

July 2, 1959

NEW YORK (Jul. 1)

The Joint Distribution Committee urged “complete support” for World Refugee Year, and for worldwide efforts now under way to find “permanent solutions” for refugees, in a resolution adopted by its executive committee today. The resolution declared that “millions of refugees of all faiths are presently condemned to hunger, privation and suffering. Emergency relief for any of these hapless men, women and children is vital, but is not enough.”

“During World Refugee Year, only the combined efforts of governments, voluntary agencies and individuals can hope to find permanent solutions for any sizeable numbers of refugees,” the resolution stated. “As an agency which has been deeply concerned through all of its 45-year history with the plight of helpless and harassed refugees, the Joint Distribution Committee welcomes the designation by the United Nations General Assembly of World Refugee Year. The needy and the homeless are the concern of men of good will everywhere. “We are happy to associate ourselves with the efforts of all groups, whether governmental, intergovernmental or voluntary, to meet the needs of the refugees and to help them achieve lives of dignity once more.”

The statement also noted that following the end of World War II, the JDC had assisted in the emigration of more than 600,000 Jewish refugees, chiefly with United Jewish Appeal funds. Currently the JDC is carrying on programs on behalf of refugees and others in some 25 countries of Europe, North Africa and the Near East, including Israel. During 1959, JDC expects to aid some 250,000 men, women and children.